Asunción, Agencia IP.- A digital and physical book with an audio podcast about the traditional games of the Ayoreo people receives the Cenzontle Award in the International Mother Language Day framework. Ibercultura Viva and Ibermemoria Sonora organize Fotográfica y Audiovisual awards, which depend on the Ibero-American General Secretariat.
The author is Celeste Escobar, an indigenous linguist, anthropologist, and educator with professional training in Paraguay, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. She had the support of Fondec for fieldwork with native speakers and the work of Oscar Posoraja, who transcribed the oral stories in an essential cultural rescue effort.
From Paris, the Paraguayan ambassador to UNESCO, Nancy Ovelar de Gorostiaga, pointed out that the news caused great joy to the Paraguayan cultural community in Europe: «There are compatriots who honor the country with their silent work and fill us with pride!» she indicated.
The Cenzontle Award, also known as the Award for Literary Creation in Indigenous Languages Cenzontle, is a literary prize that originated in Mexico. It was established in 2015 through the Indigenous Affairs area of the Coordination of Community Cultural Linkage. The Ministry of Culture initially convened it in the International Mother Language Day framework. Currently, the award has been extended to all indigenous peoples of Ibero-America.
The call seeks to disseminate and stimulate completed, ongoing, or planned projects that are oriented towards processes of conservation, recording, research, dissemination, education, management, or valuation of indigenous or native languages of the member countries of IberCultura Viva and Ibermemoria Sonora and Audiovisual: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Uruguay.